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It's midnight on September 16th, 2017, 60 kilometers off the Bulgarian coast and 2 kilometers beneath the Black Sea's surface.
2017年9月16日午夜，距离保加利亚海岸60公里的黑海海平面下2公里处。
A remotely operated vehicle surveys the seabed, transmitting video to researchers above as it goes.
一个远程操作的探测器正在探测海床，向在地表的研究人员传送视频。
Suddenly, it discerns another ghostly vessel in the gloom. But this is a relic from another age.
忽然，它在黑暗中发现了另一个幽灵般的容器。但这是另一个时代的遗物。
It's an undoubtedly ancient shipwreck, but its mast, rowing benches, and some of its upper deck remain eerily intact.
这无疑是一艘古老的沉船，但它的桅杆、划艇凳和一些上层甲板完好地令人惊悚。
It might be an ancient Roman ship, but its appearance doesn't quite match.
这可能是一艘古罗马时期的船，但它的外观并不完全匹配。
Notably, its splayed rudder blade more closely resembles those depicted on an even older Greek vase.
值得注意的是，它的八字舵叶片更像那些画在更古老的希腊花瓶上的图案。
To get a definitive answer, the research team takes three samples from the wreck and radiocarbon dating confirms its ancient origins.
为了得到明确的答案，研究小组从沉船上采集了三个样本放射性碳年代测定证实了它的古老起源。
The ship is dated to between 350 and 410 BCE. It is, in fact, the oldest intact shipwreck ever found.
这艘船的年代在公元前350年到410年之间。事实上，这是迄今为止发现的最古老且完整的沉船。
This ancient Greek vessel traversed the Black Sea's coasts during the time of Aristotle
这艘古希腊船只曾在亚里士多德时期横穿黑海海岸，
and has since rested in its depths, unseen and undisturbed, for almost 2,500 years.
从那时起，它就永远的栖息在了深处，从未发现，从未被干扰，将近2500年了。
This was just one of 65 shipwrecks a research team discovered at the bottom of the Black Sea between 2015 and 2017.
这只是一个研究小组发现的在2015年至2017年间在黑海海底发现的65起沉船中的一艘。
Others date from the Roman, Byzantine, and Ottoman empires. And despite the centuries, they've all survived in remarkable condition.
另一些沉船起源于罗马、拜占庭和奥斯曼帝国。尽管经历了几个世纪，它们都在非凡的条件下生存了下来。
So, why does the Black Sea contain so many well-preserved shipwrecks?
那么，为什么黑海有这么多保存完好的沉船？
In prehistoric times, the land surrounding the Black Sea hosted early human settlements.
在史前时代，黑海周围的土地是早期人类住区的所在地。
Eventually, it became a hub for trade, battle, and empire-building because of its strategic position between eastern and western Eurasian civilizations.
最终，它成为了贸易、战争和帝国建设的中心，因为它的战略地位位于欧亚大陆东西方文明之间。
For thousands of years, it was traversed by merchants, pirates, and warriors.
几千年来，商人、海盗和战士们一直横穿此地。
And with sustained seafaring activity came inevitable losses.
持续的航海活动带来了不可避免的损失。
But unlike other bodies of water in the region, the Black Sea is a particularly deep, semi-enclosed basin.
但与该地区的其他水体不同，黑海是一个特别深的半封闭盆地。
Seasonal changes usually cause the layers within a contained body of water to mix together, oxygenating the water.
季节性变化通常会导致水体中的分层混合，并与氧气结合。
But because the Black Sea is fed with fresh water from European rivers, and saltwater from the Mediterranean Sea, it contains two distinct layers.
但由于黑海是由欧洲河流的淡水和地中海的盐水组成的，因此它包含两个不同的层。
The denser saltwater flows beneath the freshwater, where it remains permanently,
密度更高的盐水在淡水下流动，并在淡水下永久存在，
making the Black Sea the world's largest meromictic -- or un-mixing -- basin.
这使黑海成为世界上最大的半冰期或非混合盆地。
Oxygen doesn't reach its lower, saltier zone, which creates the ideal environment for preservation,
氧气没有到达较低的含盐区域，为船只的保护创造了理想的环境，
and is why the Black Sea has been called "the world's biggest pickle jar."
这也是黑海被称为“世界上最大的泡菜罐”的原因。
In other bodies of water, marine organisms decompose materials over time.
在其他水体中，海洋生物会随着时间的推移分解物质。
Had the ancient Greek ship sunk in the Mediterranean, for example, there would likely be no organic material left today.
例如，如果古希腊船只沉没在地中海里，可能今天就没有剩余的有机物质了。
But in the depths of the Black Sea, only anaerobic bacteria -- those that don't require oxygen -- can survive.
但在黑海深处，只有不需要氧气的厌氧细菌才能生存。
This is why ancient ships can still be found carrying their original cargo, with carvings in their wood, and their rigging still assembled.
这就是为什么人们仍然可以发现古代船只所携带的原始货物，木头上的雕刻，和仍然组装在一起的索具。
Among the recent findings was a medieval Italian merchant ship, likely from around the time Italy had a virtual monopoly over Black Sea trade.
在最近的发现中，有一艘中世纪的意大利商船，很可能来自于在意大利几乎垄断黑海贸易的时期。
Venetian traveler Marco Polo would've probably been familiar with this kind of ship.
威尼斯旅行者马可波罗可能对这种船很熟悉。
Although vessels like this one helped to modernize Europe, contemporary scholars had never before seen such a complete example.
虽然像这样的船只曾帮助欧洲走向现代化，当代学者从未见过保存如此完好的例子。
And it was largely intact -- a ship's boat still lying on its deck, even though some seven centuries had passed.
它基本上完好无损--一艘船的小艇仍躺在它的甲板上，尽管已经过去了大约七个世纪。
Many of the 65 ships that were recently uncovered have retained their original forms.
最近被发现的65艘船中有很多保留了原有的形式。
But while there are far fewer degradative forces at play in the Black Sea's depths, anaerobic bacteria do gradually weaken organic materials.
但尽管黑海深处起降解作用的力量极少，厌氧菌也确实会逐渐削弱有机物质。
When researchers lifted a plank from the ancient Greek wreck for dating, it broke under its own weight.
当研究人员从古希腊残骸中取出一块木板进行年代测定时，它因承受不了自己的重量而破碎了。
While the ships are exceptionally well-preserved, they're also fragile.
虽然这些船只保存得非常完好，但同时它们也很脆弱。
This makes it impossible to bring them to the surface intact. Scientists may carefully remove and study select objects from the wreckages.
这使得它们不可能被完好无损地打捞上岸。科学家们可能会小心地从残骸中移除并研究选定的物体。
But the sunken ships will remain protected where they are, perhaps among thousands of others -- deep beneath us, suspended in time, at the bottom of the Black Sea.
但沉船会继续留在它受保护的海底，也许与上千只沉船一起--在我们脚下的深处，在黑海海底，继续被时间所冻结。
